Jock Zonfrillo’s wife Lauren made the frantic phone call to police which led them to find the MasterChef judge dead in a Melbourne hotel room.
Lauren rang police from Rome early on Monday morning after becoming concerned when her husband did not follow their usual daily schedule of telephone calls.
Well-placed sources have told Daily Mail Australia that when Zonfrillo failed to answer multiple calls from his wife, she rang police to conduct a welfare check.
Officers who attended Zagame’s House at Carlton at about 2am found Zonfrillo dead in his bed and saw no signs of anything suspicious or unusual.
There was no drug paraphernalia located, no one else in the hotel room and police formed the view the father-of-four had died of natural causes.
Zonfrillo’s body has now been released to his family and the precise cause of his death will be determined by the coroner.
Lauren and the two children she shares with Zonfrillo are understood to have arrived in Australia from Italy on Tuesday night.
Jock Zonfrillo’s wife, Lauren (pictured), made the frantic phone call to police which led them to find the MasterChef judge dead in a Melbourne hotel room
MasterChef co-host Andy Allen (pictured) and his wife Alex Davey were seen getting out of a limousine at their Carlton home on Thursday afternoon, appearing saddened and holding hands as they walked inside
MasterChef co-host Andy Allen and his wife Alex Davey were seen getting out of a limousine at their Carlton home on Thursday afternoon, appearing saddened and holding hands as they walked inside.
It is understood Allen had a meeting with Channel Ten executives on Thursday morning, along with third MasterChef judge Melissa Leong, to discuss how publicity for the program would be handled.
Upon arriving home, Ms Davey confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that her husband had lost a ‘best mate’.
Zonfrillo, who recently moved to Rome with his family, left his wife and two young children Alfie and Isla in Italy to return for the launch of MasterChef’s 15th season.
Network Ten has announced the series, which had been due to begin on Monday, would now premiere on Sunday with the full support of Zonfrillo’s grieving family.
Mrs Zonfrillo rang police from Rome early on Monday morning after becoming concerned when her husband did not follow their usual daily schedule of telephone calls
Zonfrillo’s body was discovered by police in the early hours of Monday morning in a Zagame’s House hotel room in Melbourne (stock Zagame’s House room pictured)
Daily Mail Australia previously revealed the 46-year-old had been diagnosed with bowel cancer about May 2021, after an earlier bout with the disease.
It is not suggested the cancer killed Zonfrillo, only that he had told friends its return was detected after a routine colonoscopy.
A source said Zonfrillo kept his health problems from most friends and colleagues, usually receiving treatment including chemotherapy when the hit cooking show was not filming.
A close friend and former neighbour of Zonfrillo told Daily Mail Australia the chef sometimes opened up to him about his ‘demons’ over a glass of whisky.
Stuart Ayer said he and his wife struck up a close relationship with the TV star’s family during the three years they were next-door neighbours in Carlton.
Speaking about Zonfrillo’s relationship with his wife, Mr Ayer said ‘they were a really solid couple’.
‘The kids were the light of his life,’ he said. ‘They’re great kids and it’s such a tragedy.’
Mr Ayer gushed about the Zonfrillo family and talked about how they were ‘wonderful people’ and good neighbours.
The Zonfrillos moved out of their two-storey $3000-a-week rental and moved to Italy a few weeks ago.
Zonfrillo was settling into Italian life when he had to return to Melbourne to undertake promotional work for MasterChef from Monday morning.
The Zonfrillo’s had just moved out of a two-storey, $3,000-a-week Melbourne townhouse to emigrate to Italy, which was just metres away from the hotel the MasterChef star was found in
The Zonfrillo’s neighbour, Stuart Ayer, told Daily Mail Australia that the chef would open up about his ‘demons’ over a glass of whisky
He was also in the early stages of planning a new restaurant and had started working on a cookbook prior to his shock death.
Zonfrillo’s wife and children were expecting him to re-join them once his promotional work for MasterChef was over.
Daily Mail Australia has been told Zonfrillo had been receiving treatment for bowel cancer from at least June 2021, a month after it was detected in a colonoscopy.
A source said at the time: ‘No one in his circle is aware of what he is going through. Neither colleagues or friends.’
‘He has not wanted anyone to know as he deals with this tough journey. He is coping poorly with chemo treatment, and the effects it is having.’
In the months that followed Zonfrillo was an out-patient at the Kinghorn Cancer Centre in Sydney and Epworth Oncology in Melbourne as well as seeking treatment in Queensland, the source said.
Zonfrillo underwent chemotherapy while filming the second series of Celebrity MasterChef in 2021.
Daily Mail Australia, which has seen evidence of Zonfrillo discussing the diagnosis with a close friend, contacted the chef and members of his family in August 2021 but received no response.
Z Daily Mail Australia understands Zonfrillo had been receiving treatment for bowel cancer from at least June 2021
It is understood Allen had a meeting with Channel Ten executives on Thursday morning, along with third MasterChef judge Melissa Leong (pictured together with Zonfrillo and Jamie Oliver), to discuss how publicity for the program would be handled.
Zonfrillo had previously been treated for bowel cancer with chemotherapy and radiation and went into remission. The cancer then returned more aggressively.
He did not mention suffering from cancer in his 2021 memoir Last Shot.
In August that year a source said Zonfrillo had still told few people about the diagnosis.
‘I was told the reason why he hasn’t disclosed his medical condition was because he didn’t want people feeling sorry for him, or treating him any different,’ the source said back then.
‘He has dropped in weight since his diagnosis because the chemo is causing nausea, excessive vomiting and he can’t keep food down for too long.’
In September last year Zonfrillo, who has two older daughters, Ava and Sophia, was receiving cancer treatment while sailing in Italy.
The source said Zonfrillo had been avoiding hospital and was instead being attended by a doctor who was flown in to treat him.
‘He claimed that each time he was getting any medical treatment there was a barrage of nurses that keep coming into his room, and he didn’t want to be impolite by asking to be left alone,’ the source said.
‘He said he’d rather be sick and feel like c**p away from the discomfort of prying eyes.’
Zonfrillo wrote in Last Shot about his years of heroin addiction as a young man in Glasgow.
